Congress appoints 208 observers to oversee its nationwide Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao campaign against SIR

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File photo of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi in a bus. | Photo Credit: PTI

The Congress has appointed 208 party leaders as observers to coordinate and monitor its nationwide Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao (Save Your Vote, Save The Country) campaign against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, signalling its intent to sustain the agitation against alleged vote theft.

The appointments, approved by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, were announced late on Friday night by general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal.

The list includes senior leaders such as Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Avinash Pande, Prithviraj Chavan, Nana Patole, K.S. Suresh, Ashok Tanwar and Ajoy Kumar, among others.

The observers will work with State units to oversee the campaign across clusters of districts, strengthen booth-level mobilisation and address organisational gaps.

The announcement follows a series of programmes announced by the party earlier this month to challenge the SIR exercise and press its demand for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

At a meeting chaired by Mr. Kharge on October 5, attended by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, the Congress announced plans to reach out to the more than 13.3 crore voters whose names have been deleted from electoral rolls. Booth-level agents, designated as vote rakshaks (vote guardians) have been tasked with identifying voters whose names have been unfairly deleted and help them seek re-enrolment.

The campaign also envisaged block-level marches, village meetings and mobilisation at the grassroots to raise awareness about voting rights. The party has maintained that the issue goes beyond electoral politics and concerns citizens’ constitutional right to vote.

The latest appointments are intended to strengthen coordination between the party’s central leadership and its State and district units as the campaign expands.

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